


From Night to Day

by Delari



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ben Solo Doesn't Turn to the Dark Side, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Jedi Temple, Reylo - Freeform, Skywalker Family Feels, Smuggler Ben Solo, Some angst, ben solo does not turn into kylo ren, luke won't be celibate forever, snoke does not exist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-06-24 07:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19718812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delari/pseuds/Delari
Summary: Sooo, I figured how I would imagine a world where Snoke and the First Order don't exist and Ben Solo didn't get tempted by the Dark Side (at least, not as much ;-).I like the Skywalker family happy and whole, so I wanted to describe them coming together again after some trouble at Luke's new Jedi temple.Hope you will enjoy it. ^^





	1. Chapter 1

**Low Lights in the Falcon**

The lights were dim in the Millennium Falcon’s med bay where Han Solo, war veteran, smuggler and lifelong adventurer, was lying injured on a medical bed.

Who would have thought that a milk run to a seemingly harmless little planet carrying a supply of admittedly forbidden, though harmless, goods would end in a brawl with a few agents of the local authorities who obviously didn’t know when it was a good time to let loose with a few glasses of Corellian whiskey, resulting in him and his son having to make it quickly to the landing platform where their ship was waiting?

Their co-pilot, the Wookie Chewbacca had given them cover from the entrance and they had cleared the Falcon from the planet’s orbit; Han had piloted until the pain in his ankle became unbearable. It was then that the other two realized he had tripped somewhere and probably got a sprain, so Chewbacca switched over to autopilot and Ben helped his grumbling father to the med bay and convinced him to lay down.

Han would never have admitted it, but these crazy adventures were getting more difficult for him with time. He could live with his greying hair, and he thought the lines in his face only made it more interesting; but ten years ago he would assuredly not have overlooked that stupid step which had made him stumble; and he would not be lying here with a splitting headache, cursing inwardly because his own supply of ethanol on his ship had run out right now when he would have needed some.

Ben, a lanky youth in his twenties, with a prominent nose, funny-looking ears and wavy black hair, shook his head while he cleaned up his father’s split under lip with a cloth. “Hold still, dad, please.”

A minute later the small wound was disinfected and Ben started to inspect Han’s swollen ankle. He was careful but Han couldn’t stifle a few grunts of pain. When that was taken care of, too, the young man cleared away the medical utensils.

“That should be well again in a few days. Unless you have to run from the next scumbag you owe money to,” he said with a wink.

A thought suddenly crossed Han Solo’s mind. He took the damp cloth under which he had been resting from his forehead to look at his son.

“Wait a minute.” He drew in his breath sharply. “Son, have you been travelling with me for months so you could look after me?”

“I figured someone had to do it,” Ben grinned. He had to dodge because Han threw the cloth after him, and made his escape out of the door.

**Evening on Coruscant, I**

Princess Leia, in a long blue gown she liked to wear on quiet days at home, her brown, gently graying hair falling in a long braid down her back, was standing atop the stairs of their house on Coruscant as her husband and son approached her from the landing platform; Ben was helping his father who had to hop on his healthy foot holding one arm around his shoulders. As soon as Han was comfortably settled on a low couch and their son had left the room, he started to rant.

“I can’t believe you did that! Sending our son with me so he could have an eye on me!”

“Han, I worry about you…”

“You don’t have to worry!! I’m not that old yet!”

“I thought I would faint when you came back from that pirate base on Takodana with wounds all over…”

“Only on my shoulder and my arm! It wasn’t that bad.”

“It was bad enough. And that was when Ben said he was tired of hanging around here and wanted to see more of the galaxy. So I said I would be glad if you would have both him and Chewie by your side. I never convinced him to do anything.”

“This has gone too far. I need a solution.” Han carefully stood up, put his hands on his hips and looked around. At last his eyes met his wife’s. “I think he needs a girlfriend.”

Leia smiled. “Ben? Oh dear. You don’t know how he is around girls.”

“No, I don’t. Does he prefer boys, by any chance?”

“It’s not that. He’s shy. I tried to talk to him about him one day, and he told me he would probably stay single all his life. Said he was unattractive.”

“Unattractive…?” The thought never seemed to have crossed Han’s mind.

On an impulse, he limped to the window and looked down on the terrace which was on the lower floor. At this time Ben would usually lean over the balustrade and watch the sun set. Leia came up to him.

“I wish I knew how he does that,” Han said in a low voice, so Ben wouldn’t hear him.

“What do you mean, dear?”

“That poise. He’s graceful. I never was like that.” He looked over at her. “He must have gotten that from you.”

Leia smiled. “You always were the masculine type, Han. Our dreamy son’s something else. Maybe that’s why he thinks he’s not attractive.”

“In any case, he has your eyes,” he said, laying an arm around her shoulders.

**Night on Chandrila**

Watching his now grown son standing on the terrace, Han remembered the terrible night Ben had been born on Chandrila. It had been the day of the Galactic Peace Treaty and it should have been the happiest day for all of them; but when Leia came into labor and the pains were acute right from the start, it was clear that the big baby was making a lot of trouble for her small, slender body. After a few hours she was screaming in pain every time she had a contraction; the midwife was shaking her head, and the doctor had said to Han, who was pale as a sheet because he felt a panic like he had never known in his life, that they would probably have to carry out surgery to get the baby out of the womb.

A short while later he had heard a familiar sound: an x-wing was landing on the platform outside their house. It was raining heavily when Han went out, already suspecting who the visitor was. Jedi master Luke came out of the vehicle, trying to cover himself with his cloak. The sky overhead was black. Han ran to his brother-in-law and Luke saw the panicked expression in his eyes.

“Thank you for being here! Leia…”

“I know,” Luke had replied. He had been present at the official signature of the treaty, but all of the time he had felt his sister’s distress through their Force bond and he had left the dignitaries as quickly as he could.

The two men ran upstairs, hearing Leia cry in agony. As they entered the medical room, Luke called his sister’s name and immediately rushed to her bedside, holding out both hands.

“Luke…” she had sobbed. The tough woman who had bravely endured so much in her young life felt pushed to her limits.

Han had sat down on the other side of the bed and wiped her face with a cloth. The next labor pain hit the woman, but as her brother held her hands and spoke to her soothingly, she felt a little better. Han had no knowledge in the ways of the Force, but he could almost feel the living energy between the siblings. Luke and Leia had always got along well, but ever since they had learned they were twins there was a deep, unspoken intimacy between them. In these moments, Han could tell that Luke felt his sister’s pain almost as if it was his own. Luke had talked to Leia, slowly caressing her swollen belly. Leia had held his other hand tightly, while the Force wrapped itself around the two of them and the unborn child, as if gently coaxing it to come into the world.

After a while Luke had looked at Han and told him to try and get some rest; Han was worn out from worrying about his wife and hating that he had no clue about what he could do to help her. At last he went out to talk to the assistants. They spoke in low voices, the midwife saying to him that maybe the childbirth could go its natural way since the parturient was more relaxed now. Leia’s wailing had tuned down to muffled cries and small sobs. The woman had gone back to the room to help Leia; Han had taken up walking up and down the roofed terrace, incapable to relax or find some sleep.

A few hours later Luke had emerged from the birth room; he looked weary but his blue eyes were bright.

“How’s Leia?” Han’s voice had been harsher than he intended to be.

“Tired. But everything’s fine. You have a healthy son,” the Jedi had replied.

Han had rushed into his wife’s room to find her with a bundle on her arms; she looked exhausted but much better, and she smiled up to him.

“Have a look at him, Han! He’s such a sweet boy.”

“Are you all right, Leia?” Han had dropped on one knee on the bed beside her.

“Yes, Han, don’t worry. I’m glad it’s over though.”

She had then presented him the bundle and Han had marveled how red the baby was. And where had he got that shock of black hair, and the ears that seemed to stick out of his head? He looked a little funny, and Han had not dared to touch him at first. When Leia had practically forced his son onto his arms, he wondered how light he felt although he was a rather big baby. He felt awkward; he had never held a child on his arms, let alone a newborn one. Luke was grinning at him from ear to ear.

As Han had tried to stroke over the baby’s small hand, it had immediately clutched to his forefinger and held tight. The young father had suspected right away that his son was a cuddler.

He was proven right: Ben was an affectionate child. He was rather quiet and introverted and learned to play and read on his own quickly, but he never kept away from his parents for long. He often searched his father’s physical nearness, too, and after a while Han found he liked to hold his son or to spin him around in his arms.

As Ben grew, Han played a lot with him and went with him on exploring “adventures”; he taught him how to swim in the lakes, and explored Chandrila’s beautiful valleys and hills with him. More often than not they would come home in the evenings with scratches and cuts, aching, hungry, dirty, wet or all things together; Leia would disinfect them and patch them up, feed them and scold them saying that the two of them would be the death of her. Those were the happiest years for all three of them.

Luke, who now was Ben’s uncle, had become somewhat aloof since the events of the battle of Endor; usually only his sister could break through his shell. Han never quite found out what had happened on the Death Star, and he had a suspicion that even Leia didn’t know all. But even Luke thawed a little when he was with the child; at times baby Ben would crawl all over his shoulders, making him chuckle.

Han never forgot how astounded Luke had been once when he had first spoken with his nephew about the Force. The boy had naturally made things float ever since he was very small; but Luke had found him outside on the lawn late one evening, hands behind his head and eyes closed.

“Are you tired, Ben?” he had asked the six-year-old. “Then you should go to bed.”

“I’m not tired,” the boy had answered. “I’m listening to the Force.”

The Jedi had sat down beside him. “Really? Where did you learn to do that?”

“Nowhere. It just speaks to me.”

Luke had always been in awe of the Force; his nephew’s quiet, natural approach was new to him.

“What is the Force to you, Ben?” he had asked.

“I love it,” Ben had answered.

Luke had told his brother-in-law and his sister about this strange conversation with the small boy, and promised he would take good care of him when he would be at the Jedi academy he was planning to found.

Han had been skeptical about the choice. He had taken his son with him on the Falcon together with Chewie since the toddler could barely walk, and Ben knew every nook and cranny in the old ship. He had picked up piloting very quickly, and started boasting with everyone that one day he would be a great pilot like his father. Ben had been indeed at Luke’s academy for a few years, but Han had already suspected that it wouldn’t be the right thing for him. He had agreed to name the boy after Luke’s old Jedi master, but despite his power in the Force Han did not believe that his son was meant to be a Jedi.

Ben had come back home one day, unannounced and not wanting to talk about it. There had obviously been something unpleasant between him and his uncle.

Han had just hugged his son, wondering how he had grown to be taller than he, but glad to have him home again. Ben had practically lifted his squealing mother onto his arms like she was a little girl.

They had been very much together for months after that, until Han went after his business again and Ben had offered to come with him. His father had been glad of his son’s help and company, but he never asked what had happened at the Jedi academy. Talking about intimate things was not in his nature. If there was anything he could do, he hoped his son would open up to him. But Ben was growing, becoming an adult - and Han felt that there were places in his mind where he couldn’t follow him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we come to a desert planet with some interesting inhabitants. :-)

**Twilight on Jakku**

The Falcon’s co-pilot Chewbacca did not know where to begin - shooing away the bird-like creatures (Han had said they were called Porgs) which had somehow nested aboard since they had made an accidental detour on a planet apart from all known interstellar routes with one of his big hands, while trying to keep the ship to fly steady with the other. On top of that, he could hear father and son bickering in the background.

Han had insisted on another trip once his ankle was healed, saying that this time _he_ had to collect a payment from some crook or other; Chewie and Ben had suspected that it was only an excuse and that Han was simply getting restless and felt the need to leave Coruscant again, but they had come along.

Han’s words had proven right; only his former cohort in crime, gentleman that he was, chose to open fire on the Falcon as soon as it appeared alongside his ship, sending an interstellar message to the Captain that he had dreamed of blowing him to pieces for too long to let the opportunity go. After Han’s initial attempts to “be diplomatic” were answered only with more fire, the Falcon had fled until it came across a ship cemetery - ruins and remains from old battles, long forgotten and floating in space. They had navigated their way through it, the other ship hot on their heels, until Ben had advised his father to simply keep course to where the ship hulks were more dense.

They had instinctively worked on tandem after that: Han had piloted the Falcon swiftly through a narrow opening between two old shipwrecks, and then he and Chewie had felt the air around them still in a way they knew well. A moment later, the crevice was closed and the debris had imperceptibly collected into an impenetrable belt-like form kept together as if by an invisible magnet.

Before their pursuers could catch up, the Falcon had launched into hyperspace and was out of sight. Han would never understand how his son handled the Force, but he had to admit that at times it was of practical use.

The difficulty now was that some of the passing debris had hit their admittedly neither new nor intact ship, and that some of the functions were threatening to give out. The motor was running; the question was for how long.

“Give me the bonding tape, will you?” Han called from below.

“Again? The Falcon looks like it’s held together by nothing but bonding tape…”

“Stop nagging already! Where’s the tape?”

“Here. What else?”

“Fusion cutter…”

“Here…”

“Screwdriver…”

“Toothpick, by any chance?”

Han threw the empty tape roll over the open hatch of the compartment where he was crouching, hitting his son’s forehead.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t start that tone with me, son.”

“Dad… all I want to say is that you’re not a mechanic.” A snort came from below. “And neither am I. We must find someone to help us. We need a few spare parts, too.”

“I doubt that there are inhabited planets out in this godforsaken zone.”

“Chewie!” Ben called in the direction of the cockpit. “Which is the nearest inhabited planet?”

The Wookie looked over the navigating system, then growled his answer.

Han groaned. “Jakku! That junkyard is worse than Tatooine.”

“Dad, I really think we should stop over.” The old ship was starting a slight but alarming rattle. “I have a bad feeling about this.”

A few hours later, father and son emerged from their - thankfully still functioning - ship to overlook one of the bleakest sights in the galaxy.

Dunes and dunes as far as anyone could see, at times interspersed with wrecked starships and broken military equipment which had dropped or been left there when no one needed them anymore. It was hard to believe that anyone lived here.

Han was leaning on his elbow by the open chute.

“Look at that, son. You will hardly find anything more depressing in the whole galaxy. Nothing young and new and fresh here, only sand for miles and miles. A paradise for anyone who has to hide something - or himself. No one is interested in Jakku. Whatever people do here throughout their lives, no one will call them to account.”

“Sounds wonderful.”

Both men took loaded blasters with them and left the Wookie to look after the ship.

“The ship computer calculated that there are living beings in the area over the next hill - humanoid ones. With some luck we can find someone with whom to strike a bargain. Let’s go.”

Ben agreed, nodding but not saying a word. He felt strangely alert, but not in an unpleasing way. As if something was waiting for him.

The “settlement” they found about half an hour later was even worse than they had expected. It wasn’t even quite a town or village, only a few hundred people living in tents and huts - dirty, disorganized, with hardly enough water, housing and supplies for the lost souls who were there, more surviving than living. Everybody was on his guard, angry, sweaty, hungry, tired, struggling. Han and Ben doubted that they would find anything useful in this place.

After a while they agreed to split and to meet again by the waterhole where a few huge beasts were lapping. The water did not look clean and the beasts smelled like they had all kinds of diseases. Ben wondered if humans drank from that water, too. He shuddered, suddenly grateful for the comfort he had grown up in and taken for granted until now.

He crossed his side of the village and was approached by at least half a dozen dubious looking guys who seemed to offer him even more dubious looking bargains, and two women with painted faces who seemed to think he might want their physical services. He shrugged them off and was about to end his round quickly to end this ghastly experience when he picked up the clear, fresh voice of a young woman.

“Last time you said it was half a portion…”

“These pieces are always worth the same,” a greasy voice answered. “Don’t take me for a fool, girl.”

“I know exactly I brought you the same stuff last week,” the girl said back.

“It was better quality. This is not much more than garbage.”

“But…” The female voice was suddenly still, as if she was biting her lip.

Looking to his left, Ben saw a fat, very vulgar looking creature bargaining with a young girl who was offering him a few machine parts to sell. She was dressed in greyish rags and her hair was on top of her head in three messy buns.

“This is my last offer, girl,” the fat male said.

There was a slight pause. “All right, I’ll take it,” the girl said. She left the parts and took a small bag from him, which she inspected eagerly. Ben saw the male creature smirk when she wasn’t looking.

The girl then threw her only utensil, a long staff with a knot at the top, over her shoulder and marched away. As she passed by him, he couldn’t help but gazing at her.

The girl stopped for a second before him, spat “What are you looking at?” into his direction and went on.

Ben felt intrigued. The girl had remarkable hazel eyes and would probably be quite pretty if she was cleaned up, but that wasn’t all. There was something about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

When he met Han by the waterhole later, his father had a foot on the border of the hole and his elbow on the knee, waiting for him.

He raised an eyebrow on seeing Ben; his son just shook his head.

Han looked down at the sluggish water, then up to the horizon where the sun was beginning to set.

“There is a guy who might have what we need.”

“Who?”

“Unkar Plutt. He practically runs this place. One of the guys who work for him said that he has someone at hand who’s a good mechanic. This person might know where to get spare parts, too.”

“Then let’s have a try. Where is the guy?”

Ben shouldn’t have been surprised when, after having asked for direction, they stumbled exactly on the disgusting guy he had seen arguing with the girl earlier. He wanted to roll his eyes: this meant trouble for sure.

Plutt scratched his chest with his enormous, paw-like hand when he saw the two men approaching.

“Well, well, the captain I’ve heard so much about. Can I do something for you?”

Putting his hands on his hips, Han went straight to business.

“We need someone who can help us repair our ship,” he said. “We might need a few spare parts, too.”

“I have someone at hand,” the fat man grinned. “Provided of course…”

“We have enough money on board,” Han said.

Ben looked to the ground, trying to school his features. He would never be good at bluffing like his father.

Plutt stroked his chin, humming to himself. Then he looked over his shoulder and shouted a few sentences in an unknown language to a thin man who was crouching in the tent behind him.

The man came back a few minutes later with an angry-looking person in tow: Ben recognized the girl from earlier.

“What’s this, Unkar?” the girl said with her clear voice. “Can’t I even eat my food in peace?”

“I thought you might want some extra portions,” the fat guy said. With a large gesture of his arm, which was meant to be majestic but failed miserably, he introduced his two potential clients to her. “These two gentlemen need someone to get repair parts for their ship, and also some help with the mechanics,” he explained. “If you can get the job done, I will bargain some portions for you.”

The girl quirked her eyebrows a little on recognizing Ben, but she said nothing. He was in company of a middle-aged man with graying hair, slightly smaller than he: she guessed it must be his father because they were similar in physique. The father looked more self-assured though; both wore dark pants and boots and white shirts, but he also had a jacket which he was now holding casually over his shoulder.

“Where is the ship?” she asked.

“Over there.” The older man gestured vaguely over his shoulder.

“I have to see it before I can judge if I can get what you need,” the girl said.

“We can take you with us right now,” the captain of the ship answered.

The girl looked at Plutt, who gave a poor imitation of a grin. “Go, girl. They won’t eat you,” his belly shook with amusement about his own tactless joke.

“Let’s go then.” The girl seemed impatient. She obviously did not want to linger around the obnoxious guy more than she absolutely had to.

“What is your name, girl?” Han asked as the three of them wandered off to the dunes.

“Rey.”

Rey gasped and put a hand over her mouth as they approached the Falcon.

“Are you really flying that? It’s nothing but a piece of junk!”

“Language, girl! This ship has seen more adventures than you have lived years. And it once made the Kessel run in twelve parsecs.”

Rey stopped in her tracks. “Do you mean… This is the Millennium Falcon? And you are Han Solo?”

Jakku was as far off from the happenings in the galaxy as could be, but the stories around Han Solo and his friends were known even here, in one way or another.

“I used to be,” the man grinned. “Now I’m just an old married man. This is Ben, my son.”

“What are you doing in a place like Jakku?” Rey wondered.

“It’s complicated,” Han said dryly.

The inside of the ship wasn’t more promising, Rey thought: nothing but rust and dirt everywhere. The co-pilot was a rugged Wookie (thank goodness she understood the language well enough), and there were even a few bird’s nests here and there. She rolled her eyes. On seeing the mess in the motor room, she was tempted to put her hands into her hair: there were loose ends everywhere. She crouched, crawled on all fours, bumped her head a few times, asked questions again and again, found half a dozen parts missing and a lot of half-hearted repairs, and in the end emerged in the cockpit wiping her greasy hands on a cloth and snorting.

“Well, Rey?” Han smiled at her. He hadn’t lost his ease in connecting with people.

“This is the worst heap of odds and ends I have ever…” She didn’t finish the sentence on seeing the expression on his face. “All right, it can be repaired,” she said. “Though why you don’t simply get a new one is beyond me.”

“Personal reasons,” Han said. “Do you have the spare parts?”

“No,” she answered bluntly. “I will have to look for them. There is a lot still lying around in the wrecked starship further east. But I will have to go look for them right away, before the sun sets.”

“Then I’ll go with you,” someone said from the cockpit door.

Rey looked at the tall young man she had recognized earlier. “I don’t need your help,” she said. “You’ve never been there, you are more likely to get in my way.”

“Those old ships are half wrecked and there is nothing but thieves and throat-cutters for miles around,” he replied. “It’s not right to send you there on your own.”

“Right, son,” Han said with unexpected meekness. He folded his hands over his middle and observed the two, slightly amused. He had never been a gentleman, but his son had grown up with another kind of education.

The Wookie rumbled something. “See? Chewie agrees, too.”

That was why instead of having her evening meal - the only substantial one she could have during the day - Rey was racing through the familiar landscape with a stranger behind her on the speeder. Ben had wanted to drive it for her, insisting that he could pilot anything and that there was no reason why he shouldn’t manage her speeder, but Rey had simply refused to take him with her if he didn’t stop annoying her, and at last he had given in and sat down holding on to her waist, careful not to crush her.

The graveyard of decaying old ships was looming and oppressive when they reached it. They had entered one of the larger ones carefully, Rey first, admonishing Ben to stay close to her. The sunlight was leaving and even if the shade was mercifully cool after the desert heat, the shadows inside the ship grew darker and darker.

Rey went on as if by instinct, until they finally reached something that looked like a deserted, dusty hall. “The best parts are usually here,” she said.

She slowly started to go through the echoing room among broken machinery and rocks, expertly picking random parts from here and there, some of which she planned to sell to Unkar later on.

“Do we still need anything?” Ben asked. “The sun is almost down.”

“Only one part,” she answered. “I think I know where I can find it. Hold this, please.” She thrust the bag with the spare parts into his hands and began to scramble up a rusty ladder quickly, as if she had done nothing else for years. She disappeared from his sight on to a platform above him and Ben was getting worried when he finally heard her say, “Got it!” out loud.

She started climbing down, a small machine part tucked into her belt. “I think that’s all…” she started, then suddenly shouted, “Oh, no!”

A moment later, the device was dropping into empty space. To Ben’s surprise, the girl instinctively held out her hand; he stared when he saw that she actually was pulling the thing back into her hand like there was an invisible string tied to it.

As they returned to the Falcon on Rey’s speeder, Ben was quieter than usual. He had much food for thought.

Rey started her work on the Falcon early on the following day: Han decided to leave the field to his son and spent the day reclining smugly on one of the chairs in the main room, or playing Derjak with Chewie. From time to time they heard Rey’s frustrated voice, ranting when she found some new defect, or ordering Ben about to fetch this or another tool; the young man just complied patiently, unearthing old field manuals from the ship’s closets for assistance, too. Rey was happy about the breaks: they did not have much food aboard the Falcon, but on noticing Rey’s eagerness they gave her some fresh bread and fruit which Ben had stored in case the ship rations would become unbearably stale.

Rey had prophesied that it would take her three days to adjust everything, and Han left the two young people much to themselves.

On the evening of the second day Ben and Rey were having a late dinner atop the open ship chute, looking at the sun setting over the horizon, when one of the metal water bottles accidentally toppled over and began to roll down. Ben threw a glance at Rey and the held out his hand, slowly making the object roll back again until he could make it float gently into his hand.

“Do you want some?” he asked her.

“No,” she shook her head. Then, after a pause: “I thought I was the only person who knew how to do that.”

“You have a natural gift,” Ben smiled. “You’re just not trained in the Force.”

“The Force?” she repeated. “Do you mean you were trained?”

He nodded. “My uncle.”

“You’re a Jedi then,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Not exactly. You have to be appointed master by someone who already is a Jedi master. I left the Skywalker temple ahead of time.”

“Luke Skywalker…? I thought he was a myth! And he’s your own uncle?”

“My people sent me to train the ways of the Force with him,” Ben explained.

“What happened?” Rey had circled her knees with her arms and placed her head atop of them, looking at him with friendly curiosity. Not for the first time, Ben thought that he liked how fresh and graceful she looked.

“I didn’t like it much there,” he said honestly. “I went away after a few years. My uncle made me swear all kinds of oaths that I wouldn’t misuse my powers. If I do, he will probably have my hide.”

“Don’t you like him?” she asked curiously.

“He’s a good man. But I don’t like the notion of becoming a Jedi,” Ben confessed. “After a while, it seemed hollow. The worst part is that you’re supposed to be always collected and serene. And not to have close attachments to anyone.”

“No attachments…?” Rey wondered.

“A Jedi is not even supposed to get married and start a family of his own. My uncle lives like a hermit. I guess it suits him fine. But not me.”

“It sounds silly,” Rey snorted. “With all the power the Force can give a Jedi, he is not supposed to feel close to other people? How is he to _care_ then?”

“I think it’s not that good for my uncle either. He and my parents used to be very close. Sometimes I thought he misses them, although he doesn’t show.”

Both were silent for a while, finishing the rest of the food. Rey looked a little wistfully over the plates; she had never tasted anything so good and probably never would again, as long as she lived here.

“Rey?”

“Yes.” She looked up at Ben, wondering why it was his knowledge of the Force that made him so different from his father. She quickly had learned to get along with the wry but kind captain of the ship and the gruff Wookie, but the son still was a mystery to her. He was somewhat awkward but his eyes were deep, questioning.

“May I ask you something?”

“What do you want to know, Ben?” she asked.

“What are you doing here on Jakku? Were you born here? You seem… different than the others.”

“I’m waiting,” she replied. “For my family.” She looked up at the sky. “They’ll be back. Some day.”

Ben knew nothing about Rey’s past, but when he heard the tone in her voice and saw the tilt in her neck, he instinctively felt that she was in some kind of denial. Though he lacked his father’s geniality, he was more emphatic than Han.

“Where did they go?” he asked cautiously.

“They promised to come back for me,” Rey answered. “None of your business by the way.”

Han had taken a liking to Rey; she was well-versed and cheerful and it hadn’t taken her long to find what kind of attention the Falcon (admittedly a very unusual ship) needed. On the last day, while she was working with repairs on the other side of the ship, Han decided it was time to have a talk with his son.

“Nice girl.”

“Yes.”

“You know…” He coughed a little. “I was thinking of offering her a job.”

Han had expected his son to be at least a little disappointed because he seemed more interesting in having a pretty girl working with him instead of his son, but Ben merely smiled a little.

“She’s a good mechanic,” Han went on.

“Yes.”

“Hardworking… steady… And it would get her off this damned planet.”

Ben lifted his head from the manual he had been studying. “Dad, she’s Force-sensitive.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think! I don't mind criticism, as long as you're polite. :-)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Father and son have some much-needed talk... And Unkar Plutt gets taken in. Poor bugger :-)

**Midnight on Jakku**

Chewbacca was on his bunk at the back of the ship, enjoying some much-needed sleep, when Han stepped into the Falcon’s semi-dark cockpit with a twisted blueish bottle and two mismatched glasses in his hand, holding both out to Ben in a questioning way.

Ben nodded and took one of the glasses from his father’s hand. They had restocked the Falcon’s provisions before their departure this time, including some liquor. Ben did not drink often and he coughed a little over the fiery taste. Han sat informally in the captain’s seat holding his own glass with perfect ease.

After a while, he broke the silence. “So… Force-sensitive, huh?”

“Yes.” Ben’s voice rasped a little from the drink.

Han made a pause. “Do you think we ought to bring her to Luke…”

“No!” Ben said fiercely, not even letting his father quite finish the sentence.

Han raised an eyebrow. He took another sip.

Ben hung his head, the now empty glass held loose in his hands which hung between his knees.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to shout.”

Han was thoughtful for a while. Then he decided to breach the subject.

“Are you angry with me, son?”

“No. Yes. A little.” Ben leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, avoiding his father’s gaze.

There was another pause.

“Ben… I never told you. But I didn’t want you to go to Luke.”

Ben’s eyes snapped open. He stared at his father. Finally he asked, “Why?”

“Don’t know.” Han poured himself some more liquor. “I figured it wouldn’t be right for you. Sure, you needed to learn how to use your power, but you’re not a Jedi.” Ben looked at him in surprise. “It was about myself, too,” Han admitted. “I had just founded a family and then I was supposed to lose it again. And you were only eleven. Damn young for being burdened with such a heavy task.” He held out the bottle. “Do you want some more?”

“No, thank you.” His son shook his head, and Han placed the bottle aside.

“Your mother and uncle… They’re like an avalanche,” Han said. “Always were. Even worse when they’re in something together. I tried to reason with them.”

The cockpit was silent for a while again. At last, Ben spoke into the semi-darkness, finally breaching the subject.

“Because of… grandfather?”

There was a pause. “Yes.” It was so dark that Ben could hardly see his father’s shape any more.

Ben bit his lip. “It was one hell of a way to find out about it,” he said.

Han knew what his son meant. Darth Vader’s true identity had been a well-kept secret until a vicious politician who had always opposed Leia had found out somehow and let the bomb drop. There had been quite a scandal when the galaxy at large realized that she was the daughter of the most hated man of his time. Leia had denied nothing, still relentlessly pursuing her political aims: but the uproar had cost her a great deal of credibility and reputation. Even people who admired her for being her own person and did not suspect her of ever having been in league with Vader said that she ought not to have hidden such an important fact.

Ben had been at his uncle’s temple in his twelfth student year, and although the temple was far away from any political action, echoes of the scandal around his mother had reached even there. He had confronted Luke and there had been a heavy dispute - Luke was at least as stubborn as his nephew - at the end of which Ben had angrily packed his bags and taken the next transport to his parent’s house on Coruscant, where they had lived since he had been ten years old. He would have preferred going back to Chandrila, but in the state of mind he was in, anything was better than his uncle’s temple.

Ben looked out of the cockpit window: by now it was night and the stars were glittering brightly, one of the few advantages of Jakku’s desert climate.

“Do you know what happened to him?” Ben asked softly.

“No.” Han took another swig from his glass. “Guess even Luke doesn’t know all. Your mother, even less. She never talked about him.”

“I think grandfather has always been in my mind somewhere,” the young man confessed. Han lifted an eyebrow. “Sometimes I felt… As if I was linked to him. I often thought how I would have wanted to talk to him, to ask him for answers. There are things about the Force uncle Luke does not want to look into.”

“I can’t help you on that, Ben,” Han said. “The Force is a mystery to me. I figured it would be best to leave it to Luke.”

“I learned a lot from him,” Ben admitted. “But becoming a Jedi… No one ever asked me if I wanted it at all.” His voice had an edge to it now.

At last, Han held out an arm. “Come here, Ben.”

Instinctively, the young man laid his head on his father’s chest, the way he had sometimes done when he was still a child. Han Solo, the gruff adventurer, put an arm around his son’s shoulders and stroked his unruly hair with his hand.

“Sorry if I let you down.”

“It’s okay, dad.” The thought that his father hadn’t cared about what became of him had hurt Ben most. It was a relief to finally understand that Han had simply felt unable to cope.

At last Ben lifted his head and rubbed his face with a groan.

“Dad, I’ve done something very stupid.”

“About time,” Han chortled. “I was wondering when you would stop being sensible.”

“It’s not funny, dad.” Han had immediately realized that Ben meant Rey, but Ben would have felt better if he had just done something as harmless as snatching a kiss from her.

“She wasn’t aware of her power,” he said. “She is now. I… I told her.”

“And?”

“She’s untrained, but stronger than she knows. The Force can be very dangerous. She could hurt herself… or other people.”

Han’s expression became determined as he looked at his son.

“One reason more for getting her away from here.”

The crew of the Falcon woke up on the next day hearing their ship creaking and a fierce wind wafting outside. From the cockpit windows, they could hardly make out the usually blazing sun.

“Sandstorms must be normal in a place like this,” Han grumbled. “I just would have preferred this to start tomorrow, not now that we’re all set and ready to go.”

Ben, who had been standing behind the captain’s chair staring at the dunes, felt something stirring inside him. Unconsciously, he balled a fist.

“It’s Rey.”

Chewie gave a rumbling sound.

“What do you mean, it’s Rey?” Han asked.

“That’s not a natural storm. She’s causing it. I can feel it.”

The two men and the Wookie looked at one another for a few seconds.

“Let’s get away from here quickly,” Han said. “Ben, go and find her. See if you can bring her here.”

Ben nodded, though he wasn’t sure how he would manage.

Minutes later, Ben Solo emerged from the Falcon’s chute with a large shawl around his head, holding one end over his mouth so he wouldn’t breathe in the sand, and a pair of tight-fitting glasses which his father normally used when he had to weld something in the ship.

He stumbled across the dunes, feeling the storm getting stronger and stronger, guided only by his instinct. He had no clue where Rey lived, so he had to concentrate, trying to find her Force signature.

In the settlement, everybody was crouched inside the tents, trying to protect themselves from the storm as best as they could.

Unexpectedly, Ben ran into a very old woman he had noticed around a few times; worn out, wrinkled, her face drawn by hunger and fatigue, coarse from the sand and the sun. She grabbed his arm and looked up at him urgently, and he realized that she knew more than she seemed.

“Rey lives behind the dune east of the settlement,” she said.

Ben stared at her, confused and worried.

“Take her away with you,“ the woman rasped. “Forget Unkar Platt. Forget it all. Take her away quickly. Before she grows to be old like me, and it will be too late.”

Ben understood. He pressed the old hand kindly, like a promise. Then he left the settlement and walked eastward, as fast as he could, feeling Rey’s signature pulsing on through the filthy mess swirling around him.

At the far end of the tent settlement, beyond a dune, was a fallen At-At, reminder of a battle fought by the old Empire the Force knew how long ago. Ben immediately sensed that someone was inside. No, not someone. Rey.

He stumbled the last steps to the construction and saw no entrance. At last he found the opening at what had been the machine’s bottom and knocked on it.

No answer.

He knocked again. “Rey? It’s me. Ben.”

He heard a few noises from the inside, something like a latch being pushed back and at last a small gap in the hatch opened. Rey peered out, looking surprised and a little affronted.

“Ben! What are you doing here in the middle of a storm? Are you mad?”

“I need to talk to you.”

“Come in, don’t just stand there, the sand is blowing inside.” Rey pushed the makeshift entrance a little shifting it to the side, enough so that he could enter. Then she quickly shut it again.

“Sit down. Do you want some water?” she asked.

Ben took off the shawl and the glasses and looked around in astonishment.

The inside of the same construction was one of the saddest sights he had ever seen. Though Rey obviously had tried to make a home here - he could see a wilting desert flower, something reminding of a doll, some crockery and a narrow bed -, there was nothing that suggested the smallest degree of comfort. He wondered how she managed to sleep here.

At the far end, he saw a wall covered in tallies from top to bottom: he figured that Rey had counted the days she had had to endure here until the present day.

Waiting for a family that would never come back to her.

He sat down on Rey’s narrow bunk, and she handed a glass half-full of lukewarm water to him.

“For your throat,” she said.

While he gulped down the liquid, Rey peered out through a slit which she had covered with a tattered cloth.

“It doesn’t look like it will stop any time soon,” she said. Then she asked Ben, matter-of-factly: “What made you do something so crazy? Couldn’t you wait on your ship until the storm stopped?”

Ben carefully put the empty glass to the side, then looked down at his hands. He didn’t know how to breach the subject.

“Well?” Rey asked.

Ben exhaled. “Rey… My father and I want to ask you to come with us. We could need someone like you on the Falcon. And we have a place on Coruscant. There is enough room for another person. You would be welcome.”

Rey had not expected such an offer. Impulsively, she sat down by his side. “Thank you, that’s very kind of you. But I can’t.”

“You are waiting for your parents.”

“Yes.” The tone of her voice was slightly defensive. She was fooling herself, but she couldn’t fool Ben.

 _What am I to do?_ he asked himself desperately. _Force, I need your help._

Finally, Ben placed one of his large hands on Rey’s small, calloused ones.

“Rey, do you realize that you are doing this?”

She looked at him in confusion. “Doing what?”

“The storm. It’s not a natural one.”

Rey answered, “It’s unusual for the season. But not unheard of.” She took her hand away; she was not used to being touched, except in aggression.

There was a pause.

“Rey, did something upset you?”

“Why?”

“I was wondering.”

Rey looked straight ahead. “I was very angry with Unkar today. He almost starves me. He promised he would give me more portions if I repaired your ship, but nothing until today. He says he’s waiting for you to pay him. The supplies I had,” she pointed to the crockery, “are almost finished, and he wouldn’t give me anything in advance. When will you pay him?”

The young man avoided the question; he didn’t have the heart to tell her that they hardly had any currency on their ship. Unkar Plutt disgusted him; if it was for him, he wouldn’t have paid him anything. Rey had done all the work on her own; but she obviously was used to being dependent from him.

“Rey, please listen to me. Close your eyes and reach out with your feelings.”

Rey looked puzzled. “What for?”

“Do it, please. Do you trust me?”

Ben had seemed like a gentle, kind young man to her from the start, and Rey knew she was in no danger from him. Still, at times he struck her as a strange person.

But she decided to humor him and closed her eyes.

Almost abruptly, she could feel something stirring inside of her. She quickly opened her eyes again.

“What is happening?”

Ben took her hand again. “Search your feelings.”

“I feel… the sand… the dunes… oh!” Her eyes snapped open. “I can feel the wind. It started when I left from Plutt’s.”

“That’s what I mean,” the young man said. She saw the intensity in his eyes.

“Do you mean… I am doing this?”

“I told you, you have the Force. It’s linked to your feelings. You never learned to control it.”

Rey jumped up and covered her face with her hands. “That means… I am dangerous. I could hurt people… the others who live in the settlement, they are suffering from the storm…”

“Rey, please calm down.” Ben softly touched her shoulder. “Close your eyes. Breathe. Count your breaths. Try to feel the storm.”

Rey forced herself to breathe slower and to calm her upset emotions. The wind, as if it was a part of her, began to calm down to a gentle billowing. The At-At stopped creaking in its joints and the howling of the storm almost abated.

Rey looked at her hands. Then she looked up at the young man, almost in panic. He was a soothing presence; she felt that he had somehow helped her through her turmoil.

“You need a teacher,” he said. “I could show you. I’m not a Jedi, but I can teach you how to control your power. But it would take some time. And my father and I can’t stay here for long.” He offered her his hand. “Rey, please. It would mean very much to both of us.”

Rey looked at his outstretched hand, then at his face.

“Ben…” she gulped. “I… I know I need to learn about it… but…”

She had waited for her parents to come back since she was a small child; the idea of leaving Jakku felt like treason.

Suddenly they heard a voice shout their names from the entry; both were startled, and Rey automatically thought of one of Plutt’s minions coming to summon her for some work or other.

“Ben! Rey! Are you here?” It was Han Solo’s voice.

Rey went to the hatch and opened it; the Falcon’s captain was holding one end of his jacket over his mouth; the storm had not quite abated.

“Captain Solo! What are you doing here?”

“Offering you a job,” the elderly man said rolling his eyes. “Didn’t Ben say anything?”

Rey looked back at the young man.

“Yes, but…” She looked from one man to the other. “I can come with you for a while. But I need to come back. My family…”

“As you wish,” Han said grumpily. “Let’s get away from here now. This planet gives me the creeps. And don’t get me started on Unkar Plutt.”

Rey raised her eyebrows. “You never planned to pay him, did you?”

“Are you mad? That disgusting old blob deserves to be drowned in his own watering hole for wanting to be paid for other people’s work. If we run over the eastern dunes to the ship, we’ll be off before anyone can stop us.”

Rey quickly collected a few of her meagre possessions and left with a wistful back to the wall with the tallies. _I’ll be back,_ she promised.

The Falcon left Jakku a few minutes later, with the sandstorm slowly settling down. Unkar Plutt yelled after them that he had been robbed and duped, but hardly anyone heard him and who did was not sorry for him.

A few hours later, Rey was sitting on one of the bunks deep inside the ship’s bowels, arms tightly around her legs, crying silently.

She felt like a traitress.

**Evening on Coruscant, II**

This time Leia was even more surprised when her husband and son came back. Han was well, but Ben emerged from the entrance to the Falcon carrying someone on his arms.

Leia quickly descended the stairs and found it was an unconscious young woman, almost a girl still.

“Ben! Han… Who is she?”

“Her name is Rey. She passed out a few minutes ago,” Han said. “I hope she’s not ill.” He met his wife’s frown. “We met her on Jakku, I’ll explain it to you later. Come, Ben, bring her into one of the bedrooms.”

Leia came into the family room half an hour later, worried and irritated.

“Rey came around,” she told the men. “I don’t think she’s ill, but I will have her checked to make sure.” She looked from one to the other. “One thing is certain, she’s exhausted. She’s underweight and looks like she didn’t have a good night’s sleep in a long time. What happened to her?”

Father and son exchanged a glance.

“She was a slave there. Someone sold her to Unkar Plutt. Disgusting guy,” Han said. “He said to me her own parents sold her to him, when she was four years old. Junk traders who wanted drinking money.”

“Drinking or not, who would sell his own child?” Ben frowned.

“Well, we took her away and didn’t pay him for the parts,” Han grinned. “Serves him right.”

“She was only dressed in rags,” Leia said. “I showed her the bathroom and filled the tub and she said she had never seen so much water only for washing. I could count the ribs on her back.” She shook her head. “I’m going back to her. Tell the kitchen droid to prepare dinner, will you? Only fresh, light food. I wouldn’t want her to get sick.”

Father and son were already sitting down for dinner when they heard Leia’s voice from behind the arched doorway.

“Come, Rey! Don’t be shy.”

Leia entered the room holding Rey by the hand; the girl was hanging her head, obviously embarrassed.

She was dressed in a simple creamy-white robe with a dark green sash that Leia hadn’t worn in years; it was a little shorter on her but fitted across Rey’s shoulders and waist because she was so thin for her height.

Han grinned when he saw the look on his son’s face: Rey looked very pretty now that her skin was scrubbed and her hair combed.

“Good evening,” Rey managed to say to the two men. She felt very self-aware. She had not been in a real house, eating at a table together with other people since she was very small, and she was afraid of doing something wrong.

After half an hour, the ice had thawed considerably around the table. Rey loved everything the kitchen droid served and enjoyed food so heartily that it was a joy to look at her. She had never held a fork and knife and Leia had to show her how to use them.

Rey did not only marvel at the fresh and varied food but also at the cutlery, the dishes and glasses and napkins. Ben encouraged her to help herself and poured one glass of thick, yellowish Banjam juice for her after another when he saw how much she liked it. Rey often asked what this or that fruit or vegetable was called and how the food was made, and the young man answered her.

Han just grinned inwardly. His son may be shy, but he liked to explain things, and Rey needed a teacher.

As they were about to go to bed, Leia held her son back in the semi-dark vestibule.

“Ben, can I talk to you for a moment?”

They both wished Rey a good night and then entered the living space over the terrace where Han and Leia had been sitting and discussing only weeks earlier.

Leia looked at her son earnestly. “Ben… I saw Rey reach for the hairbrush when it almost fell on the carpet today. She has the Force.”

“I know, mom.”

“Then shouldn’t we send her to Luke?”

Ben sighed and rubbed his neck.

“Ben, you know I want to be supportive. You never said what happened at the Temple. But don’t you think…”

“Mom, no.” Ben’s voice went firm. “Dad and I figured that Rey would be safe here. She’s weak and hungry, you’ve seen it. I think she should decide for herself whether she wants to go to uncle Luke later, or not.”

Leia frowned. She had never learned to use her powers, but she hadn’t the smallest doubt in her brother’s knowledge.

“You didn’t ask me if I wanted to go,” Ben said.

Leia sat down on one of the diwans. “So that was it,” she said.

“It’s not all, mom. Uncle Luke is a good teacher, but… I simply don’t want to be a Jedi. Maybe Rey won’t want to be one either. Learning how to use the Force and becoming a Jedi is not the same. I think she ought to have the choice.”

“I will have a talk with Luke,” Leia said softly.

“Not about me, mom, please. I’m fine.”

“You’re angry with Luke.”

“Yes, but I don’t hate him. I simply had to get away from it all. Just leave it, please.” Ben sat down beside her and touched her hand. “You might want to call him still. Mom, I think he misses you. He misses dad, too. He has a dozen young men to train and he’s all alone with it. It’s not much fun.”

Leia sighed and got up. “I will think about it, Ben. But please, don’t let Rey out of sight. I wouldn’t want her to hurt someone or herself for lack of knowledge.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like it so far, you're welcome to leave kudos. They can be very motivating. :-)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, here comes a little diversion for the Skywalker-Solo family... I hope you enjoy it. :-)

**Night on Coruscant, I**

Rey was delighted with the Solo’s house on Coruscant. Leia had had her checked and she was indeed healthy, there was nothing missing about her that time and good care couldn’t cure.

Once she had recovered from hunger and exhaustion, all Rey did for the first days was to explore the rooms, halls, terraces and turrets. She liked the two droids which helped running the house, an orange-white BB unit which could roll or climb its way almost everywhere and a protocol droid, obviously very old but fully functioning. She had a million questions as she flitted from one place to the other and Ben was getting out of breath to keep up with her.

“Looking for the girl, son?” Han grinned on the third evening, when he came out on the balcony where he and Leia were having drinks after dinner.

“That’s not a girl,” Ben groaned. “It’s a miniature hurricane. What is it now?”

Rey came running out and pulled his arm. “Come! I want to explore the city! I’ve never been to one.”

At first Rey was fascinated by Coruscant; she had been unconscious when they had landed with the Falcon, and so she had not seen that the entire planet was urbanized. Ben explained to her that food and water mostly had to be imported from other planets, because there hardly was any free soil.

Ben had brought his light sabre with him, it was tucked at his side and with the handle being black, it looked like any normal weapon and was almost invisible against his dark pants and jacket. On asking, Rey was surprised when Ben told her that Coruscant could be a dangerous place and that he usually never walked around unarmed.

“But why?” she had asked, curious.

“Large cities are like jungles,” Ben had answered drily. “Or desert planets, if you will. There are large disparities, many people have to struggle to survive. Or they pursue aims that are only good for their own ends.”

Rey frowned; she was not used to real communities and she couldn’t understand why in a place that seemed as affluent as this people didn’t simply help one another.

There were palaces, parks and other structures like she had never dreamed of; methods of transport, shops and people of all sorts, everybody was bustling around. Many vendors praised stuff that to her practical mind seemed superfluous at best.

As they passed by an area with a good view, she noticed a large, burnt-down edifice which looked like it had been of some importance.

“Ben, what is that?” she asked tugging at his sleeve.

Ben followed her indication and shuddered slightly. “The Temple of the old Jedi,” he answered. “When the Old Republic fell and they were extinct, it was burnt. These are only the remainders. Nobody wanted to rebuild it.”

“But… are there no Jedi in the galaxy now?”

“The old ones are all dead, except for uncle Luke. He’s training a new generation. Once they have finished, the Jedi will start anew.” He shrugged. “I guess there will be some trouble. I talked with the other students sometimes, and they didn’t like the philosophy my uncle was teaching them that much. I guess they will want to change some things.”

“Your uncle will not be happy,” Rey commented.

“Hardly. He still pursues the methods and ideas of the Old Jedi. But had they been as strong and good as we’re led to believe, the Empire wouldn’t have risen. I told my uncle so before I went away. He always looks to the horizon and often doesn’t see what happens under his very nose.”

He sounded annoyed and Rey didn’t want to irritate him more, so she suggested to enter one of the highest buildings which was advertising a good view over the city and a restaurant. She was surprised on asking Ben when he explained to her that it was a place where people went to eat when they didn’t want to cook at home; to her, having food only for pleasure and not out of necessity was another undreamt-of luxury.

Walking across the street to the building Rey glimpsed at something that made her turn her head and then blush furiously.

A large panel (advertisement, Ben had told her - something to enhance business by offering people things for payment) showed people of all genders and races engaged in the strangest attires, engaged in physical activities that she couldn’t make head or tail of but seemed… exotic to say the least.

“Rey! What are you doing?”

Rey quickly went away from where she had been almost rooted to the spot staring, and reached Ben who quickly tucked her arm into his.

“Stay close to me,” he said. “If you’ve never been to a city you can easily get lost.”

Rey had found Coruscant interesting, but a lot of things had been irritating and sometimes disgusting to her. She couldn’t understand why so many people would spend so much time and money on things they obviously did not need. When Han and Leia asked her how she had liked it, she told them she would prefer to stay at their home for a few days, until she had learned things better.

Rey felt safe here. She had a room of her own, simply furnished but to her it was prettier than anything she had ever imagined living in. She was more relaxed and even getting used to sleeping through the night.

On the next evening Ben caught her in the vestibule when she was alone, and told he that he wanted to show her something secret. Intrigued, Rey had followed him higher and higher upstairs, until they reached a window through which the young man climbed and then offered his hand to her so she could follow him.

Rey could climb like a cat, and soon she found herself outside - on an edge of the house’s roof, large enough to sit comfortably and look down. There were a few books and utensils in a corner, which made her assume that Ben came here regularly.

“I like it here,” he explained. “It’s peaceful. I love my parents, but sometimes I just… have to be alone.”

Ben had some cookies in a jar, too, which Rey enthusiastically ate until she realized they were almost all gone.

“Oh, I’m sorry… Do you want some?” she asked.

“Don’t worry,” he grinned. He knew Rey’s appetite and knowing where it came from made him rather sad than amused. She had already had a full meal this evening and still couldn’t get her fill. But if she went on like this, Ben figured Leia would have to take her shopping for new clothes because the spaces between her ribs would soon fill out.

Rey still had a lot of questions about Coruscant; in the end, blushing, she asked Ben what she ought to think of the strange advertisement she had seen.

“Sounds like a house of pleasure,” he answered with a grin.

“Pleasure…?”

“Yes. Sexual pleasure.” When Rey still stared ahead of her in thought, Ben suspected he might have to start at the birds and the bees, so he added, “It’s how reproduction works…”

“I _know_ how reproduction works, thank you very much! That stuff had nothing to do with it.”

“It’s not meant to make people reproduce, actually,” Ben said. “Only to provide the pleasure without creating offspring.” He tried to remain matter-of-fact because he was getting embarrassed, too.

“Pleasure?” Rey snorted. “Those clothes looked extremely uncomfortable… and they showed off… I mean… And some of those people were whipping at one another! Is that what you call pleasure in these parts?”

“Some people have strange preferences,” Ben shrugged. “I don’t,” he added, when he saw her looking at him in disgust.

Rey rolled her eyes. “I really don’t see why anyone should waste his time with… that stuff.”

“Maybe it’s because we don’t have to work so much,” Ben suggested. “Physically, I mean. People get bored, and sexual activities help them vent their energies.”

“I will never understand city folks,” she snorted.

“I preferred living on Chandrila, too,” Ben said. Rey looked at him questioningly. “It’s a beautiful, green planet. There are only small cities. We still have a house there - on a lakeside.”

“That sounds very beautiful. Why did you leave?”

“Mother is very active politically. She is a senator. And here on Coruscant is where most of the galaxy’s politics take place.”

There was a pause, while Rey processed what Ben had said.

Han and Leia were sitting and talking a few stories beneath, having evening drinks and looking over the city from one of the large open windows. From below, if they spoke clearly enough Ben and Rey could hear what they were talking about. They had not listened until now, until Ben’s name was dropped.

“I told you he needed a girlfriend,” Han was saying to his wife.

“I thought you had thrown them together for a reason,” Leia scoffed. “I never figured you for a matchmaker.”

Ben turned his face away, obviously uncomfortable. He dreaded what was coming.

“Am I your… girlfriend, Ben?” Rey asked.

“No!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t ask you… I mean… And you didn’t ask me either.”

“I don’t even know what it means,” Rey said defensively. “Do your parents think we are… paired off? That we are doing that… strange stuff together?”

Ben groaned and ran a hand over his face.

“I supposed that’s what they expect,” he said. “I mean, not now. But perhaps later, if we get to know each other better.”

“What then?”

Ben really didn’t like to talk about intimate things, but he suspected there was no way out.

“Rey… When a young woman and a young man like one another… Sometimes they decide to become a couple. They become boyfriend and girlfriend. Usually the boy asks the girl whether she wants him. Later, if they are happy together, they might get engaged and married.”

“And you do not have a girlfriend now?”

“No. I never had one.”

Rey thought about it for a while. When she spoke up again, Ben winced and asked himself what in the Force’s name he had done.

“But did you ever… do that? I mean, that strange stuff?” Rey asked him.

Ben decided to dodge the question. “With my looks?” he snorted. There was a pause. At last Ben decided that he didn’t want to mislead Rey. “There was a girl, for a while. It didn’t last long… only a few months.”

“What is it about your looks?” she asked. Here questions could have seemed nosy, but Ben knew that she was simply innocent.

“My nose and ears are big and I’ve got spots all over my face. Doesn’t make me very attractive. I was often mocked while I still was at school.”

He sounded angry, and Rey answered, “Slow down, I don’t know how you judge beauty in these parts. Where I used to live looks weren’t important.” She pondered for a while. “I’ve got spots on my face, too. I guess then I’m not good-looking either.”

Ben answered with a short laugh. “That’s different.”

“Why?”

“Those are freckles. They are considered cute.”

Rey shook her head. “I will never understand city folks,” she repeated.

At that, Ben shoved her shoulder playfully.

“What are you doing?” Rey rubbed her shoulder.

“Just teasing you. Sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“You didn’t hurt me,” she answered. “I’m… I’m just not used to being touched.”

After a moment, Ben said, “Can you maybe pretend that I’m your brother or something? Brothers sometimes hold their sisters, I’ve heard.”

Rey looked at him doubtfully, but finally she settled against his shoulder and let him put his arm around her. He was taller, so she could easily lean against him. It was comforting, she had to admit.

“You don’t have brothers or sisters, do you?”

“No,” he answered. “Mother told me once that my birth was very difficult for her. The doctors told her she better shouldn’t try to have more children.”

“I see.” After a while Rey asked, “Was it because you think you’re ugly?”

The question was so unexpected that Ben caught his breath. “What?”

“The girl… the one you were with.” Rey met his eyes frankly. “Did you… did you do… stuff with her because she said you were beautiful?”

“No… no. She never said anything like that.”

Rey pondered. “But she didn’t say you were ugly, either.”

“No.”

“And she wanted to… So you figured she didn’t find you ugly.”

Ben felt embarrassed. For all her naivety, Rey had seen him through: that had been the reason for his brief affair, although he had never given it a thought.

Rey could tell that the Solo family were trying to distract her attention from Jakku; but deep inside, she remained adamant that she had to return as soon as possible.

She and Ben developed a habit of sitting on top of the roof in the evenings, looking down at the city. Ben was well-learned and told her a lot of things about the galaxy’s politics and history, and the ways of the Jedi. Rey had been very embarrassed to confess him that she didn’t know how to read or write; Ben brought writing and reading tablets which he still had from his childhood and began to teach her, and she picked up quickly.

Making things float was easy for her; at times it made her giggle when she snatched something from Ben’s hand. The young man sometimes was earnest though, explaining the dangers of her mysterious powers to her.

A few weeks later Ben offered Rey to go into the city again; she still didn’t like it but she was getting restless, and there was a circus show he remembered he had enjoyed very much when he had seen it a few years earlier.

On going out, Rey wondered why Ben again had his light sabre tucked at his side: she had never seen him use it.

Rey was ecstatic with the artists and the music, she had never watched anything just for entertainment; but the circus show was at one of its highlights when Ben suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He quickly exited the arena and stayed outside, breathing in the fresh air, leaning on one of the entrance pillars with his hand.

Rey followed him shortly afterwards, worried. “What’s wrong?” She was alarmed by the look in his eyes, pained and savage at the same time.

“Dad’s in some kind of trouble. I feel it.”

Tracking down Han Solo’s Force signature, the two young people sped through the city center on a vehicle they had rented for the evening; looking down on one of the main plazas they could see and hear that there was some kind of brawl. Ben rolled his eyes; it was just like his old man to be right in the middle of trouble.

They landed and ran through shouting, angry people; they heard sentences like “What are the authorities doing? What do we pay taxes for?” “People like that ought to be locked up and never released!” “A working mine would be the best thing for…”

Rey and Ben spotted Han sitting on the steps outside a large venue (Ben had told Rey that people went there in order to bet their money on games, and to drink products based on ethanol - she still didn’t understand what that was supposed to be good for); Chewie was by his side, looking around in an intimidating way.

Han was bleeding from a cut on his cheekbone; Rey quickly gave him a handkerchief and tried to help him clean the wound. He took the piece of cloth from her hand almost angrily, then looked up at his son who was holding him by the shoulders.

“Great,” he grumbled. “I didn’t want a nanny to look after me, and now I’ve got two.” Chewbacca rumbled, and Han rolled his eyes. “Three.”

“What happened, dad?” Ben asked.

“It seems these days you can’t even let your face be seen without getting into trouble,” the older man harrumphed.

“Dad, what did you do this time…”

“ _I_ wasn’t doing anything!” Han shouted. “It’s the last time I’m trying to act like a gentleman. You want to keep a woman out of trouble, and she almost kills you.”

Looking around, Rey and Ben finally saw what it was all about.

A beautiful, fiery-looking woman, red light sabre ignited, was standing in the middle of the crowd: from the snippets of talk going on around them, someone had tried to molest her, and she had overreacted to put it mildly. Han had tried to intercede and got between the fronts.

Now the woman had three armed men surrounding her, but she didn’t seem to have any trouble with that: she looked like she could easily bring all of them down. Ben lifted his eyebrows - he knew the woman, had seen her a few times in his father’s company before.

Ben made a decision quickly. “Chewie, please bring Rey home. We’ll be there right away.”

With a fierceness Rey had never seen in him Ben got up and lighted his sabre: it was red and had a cross guard. Illuminated by this light, she could hardly recognize his face.

“I don’t need help!” the red-haired, black-clad woman said savagely, but minutes later they were fighting the growing number of assaulters back to back.

The gentle young man seemed to grow more savage by the minute; Rey understood that he was not to be underestimated in his power.

From far away, alarms were to be heard - the local security system seemed to finally have gotten wind of the situation and were on their way.

The Wookie had to lift Rey and carry her away by force because she was kicking and screaming Ben’s name desperately.

Han and Ben came back when it was almost morning. The two men had hardly entered the semi-dark vestibule when Rey shot out of one of the doors.

“Ben!”

She hugged the young man so wildly that her impetus pushed him against one of the walls. He awkwardly placed his arms around her shoulders.

“I’ll leave you alone, son,” Han waved an airy hand, doing his best to stifle a grin, and walked off to his and his wife’s bedroom upstairs.

Rey was hugging Ben almost convulsively. A few moments later, he had sunk to the floor because his knees threatened to give out. Rey simply sat on his lap with her arms around his neck, her face buried in his shoulder.

He hugged her tightly. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

She lifted her eyes at him quickly. “Tell me what?”

Ben gulped. “Didn’t my mother… Didn’t they say anything?”

Rey shook her head, strands of her loose hair flying around her face.

“I’m sorry.” He felt a deep surge of shame and was silent for a while. “I have this… problem… It wasn’t the first time I got in trouble. Sometimes I just seem to see red. I got into my first fistfight at fifteen and I almost killed they guy.” He exhaled shakily, not looking at her. “It has happened over and over. Lesser with time… but I sometimes get into trouble for hurting people badly. My name is well-known with the security system. That’s one of the reasons why I am usually on some other part of the galaxy, travelling with my father. It gives me something to do and I’m more in control.” He dropped his head. “I’m sorry. I wish I were the nice guy you see in me.”

Rey simply laid her head against his chest and took one of his hands, which had been lying limply on the floor. “I’m not afraid of you, if that’s what you think.”

“ _You_ don’t have any reason to be afraid. But it’s not funny, having to intercede again and again for someone who tends to have fits of violence. Just ask my parents,” he added with some bitterness.

“I won’t. This is between you and me.” She lifted her eyes at him. “And you _are_ a gentle man, Ben Solo.”

Ben brought Rey to her room before going to his own. He looked out of one of the windows to the dawning sun, praying to the Force that he had done the right thing.

He and the woman had cleared the area from assaulters, but the security guards weren’t too happy about their initiative although the dubious creatures usually crowding the place probably would not dare to come near it for a while now.

Ben had found himself in custody cell together with the woman, who shot dagger-like looks at him. He knew that his father was using his influence and his well-known way of talking his way out of things to free both of them, so that didn’t worry him.

Yet as he sat there, Ben felt the Force stirring inside him again. He had to do something for this angry woman. He silently listened to the ancient power, trying to figure out what it was saying to him.

_Powerful Light, powerful Darkness…_

The excitement about the incident ebbed in the Solo household in a day, but Han knew the last had not been said about this.

What disturbed him was that Ben had teamed up with a woman he knew well to be dangerous, and that he hadn’t said one word about it yet.

When Han finally asked him what had been going on between the two of them, the answer knocked the wind out of his sails.

“Uncle Luke will know how to deal with her.”

“Ben, you sent _Mara Jade_ to him? You do have some nerve, son!”

“I’ve heard that when a guy starts to act funny, he needs female company.” Ben said, somehow managing to remain straight-faced. “I bet they will get along just great.”

Han placed a hand on his forehead. “I always thought he had such a chaste turn of mind. To imagine Luke and a woman…”

“Don’t.” Ben grinned a little. “Leave it to them. We will see.”

A few days later, Han and Leia unexpectedly were contacted via subspace communication.

“Thank you for the pleasant surprise,” Luke said dryly. “I’ve had my first light saber duel in years.”

“What happened?”

“I met this redhead in the woods and she thought I was some kind of felon. I couldn’t convince her that I wasn’t and next thing you know she attacked me.” Luke looked over his shoulder. “Mara, please! Leave my pupils alone!”

“He was snooping around in my room!” an affronted female voice was heard. “May I not scold him?”

“You can yell at him all you want. Chop his head off, no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo's are always welcome. There is one or two chapters left, your encouragement helps a lot. Thank you for the nice comments so far. ;-)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is some slight angst in this chapter... A few bombs are dropping for our friends.

**Evening on Coruscant, III**

Leia had taken Rey to the city again to shop for some new clothes, since the young woman had put on some weight during the last weeks, and since she also had no idea about how to dress. Rey was astonished at the choices and the various kinds of clothes and adornments there were. At times they were so expensive that it shocked her. Leia offered to give her some advice, and after a while they found some nice, practical clothes. Rey did not like frills, laces and patterns, and Leia did not either.

That evening when Leia was kneeling before a large coffer, taking things out and sorting them, Rey looked at her tentatively.

“Leia, do you need help?”

The older woman looked up at her. “There is a lot of old junk here. I’ve wanted to clear it up for years now. I thought you could use the coffer for your new things.”

“Then I should help you.” Rey kneeled by her side. The coffer was old, made of firm, dark wood, decorated with carvings. The stuff Leia was unearthing was obviously inherited, family mementos from decades ago.

Rey helped her scavenging, both of them giggling like girls at times when they found some weird, obviously outmoded trinket. Suddenly Rey went quiet; wrapped in a long shawl she had found two pictures painted on smoothed pieces of dark wood. The persons portrayed looked so realistic they almost seemed to breathe.

“Oh…” she said, looking at the face of a handsome young man with an open countenance and wavy, dark-blond hair. “Who is this?”

Leia had a look at the picture and suddenly shuddered. She looked away, feeling shaken.

“Leia…?”

“That’s a long story,” Leia answered after a minute. “The man… is my father.”

“He’s very good-looking. He seems intelligent and strong, too.” She looked over at the older woman. “Did something happen to him?”

“Yes. Something dreadful. I never really knew him, except from scraps of old tales.”

Rey looked at the second picture. “Then is this your mother? His wife?” She felt a great deal of interest in family stories, not having a family of her own. The woman on the picture was strikingly beautiful, her long chestnut curls pinned up in an elaborate hairstyle. She looked sweet and had a noble attitude.

“I never knew her either,” Leia confessed. “I was adopted and raised by Queen Breha and Senator Organa from Alderaan. My mother died shortly after having given birth to my brother and me. Luke is my twin.”

Leia placed one of her hands on Rey’s. “It’s an old and ugly story, Rey. My brother researched a few things, but the whole truth is gone from memory. And that’s a mercy.”

Rey was getting even more curious, but then Leia got up. “I’m not easily shocked,” Rey said. “I’ve seen a lot of horrid things on Jakku.” She hesitated. “Does Ben know about this?”

“No. There was… trouble a few years ago, when Ben left his uncle’s Temple. Ben had some kind of hero worship for his grandfather for a while. And I didn’t want him… to get even more hurt.”

She looked to the side, and Rey decided to let it be for the moment, sensing that Leia had some personal reason for not having wanted to know about her father’s past.

**Night on Coruscant, II**

About a month later, Leia got a subspace call from her brother again, informing her that he wanted to come for a visit and that he could trust the eldest adept to watch over the younger pupils at the Jedi Temple.

Jedi master Luke Skywalker came to the Solo household on Coruscant about a week later. Unexpectedly, he came in company of Mara.

Leia all but ran into her brother’s arm and hugged him; she had felt his absence very much. Her family didn’t feel quite complete when he was missing.

A small, blue-white droid rolled alongside the two visitors, who seemed to be an old acquaintance of the other two droids.

Rey was a little doubtful when she heard that the legendary Jedi master was visiting them; she felt shy.

The man she met had an impressive Force-signature - she had learned to read that by now - but apart from that, he seemed quite normal. He was as tall as she, which meant rather short for a guy; when he took off his gloves she saw that his right hand was a robotic one. His face looked earnest but friendly, the blue eyes were intelligent and had a humorous spark. She sensed some melancholy in him, too; like in a man who has been through a lot.

His eyebrows furrowed a little on seeing her; Rey could feel that he sensed her presence in the Force.

A moment later, Ben was by her side and laid an arm around her shoulders protectively. His eyes met his uncle’s, and Rey felt resentment between the two men, both controlling themselves because they did not want to upset anyone.

Han, who had greeted Luke amicably, crossed his arms and smiled sardonically on seeing Mara by his side.

“Well, look who’s here,” he said. “The woman everyone who’s not afraid of should learn to be.”

Mara could be just as sarcastic, when she wanted. “Han Solo,” she replied. “Worst smuggler this side of the quadrant.”

“This side of the galaxy, if you please,” the adventurer gave back with a grin.

They measured one another for a moment, then both smiled a little and clapped their hands together amicably. Their acquaintance was slight, but there was a mutual respect.

After a dinner that went better than everybody had thought, Luke took Leia to his side and spoke softly to her. Ben joined them, and on hearing what they had to say he asked Rey to come to them.

The three of them withdrew to a sitting room upstairs, nervous energy filling the air. Han stayed back with Mara, winking at Luke.

“Mara and I will do some catching up,” he said. “I have some excellent liquor from Batsheba here - would you like some, Mara? Leia and Ben and Rey, they all say it tastes rotten.”

“It _does_ taste rotten, and you know it,” Luke answered dryly. “I’m sure that’s why you like it.”

“I haven’t had Batsheban liquor in ages,” Mara answered. “I’ll have a glass with you.”

She went over to Luke and took both his hands into hers for a moment, looking at him intently. “You can do this,” she said to him very softly.

“Thank you,” the Jedi answered. He let go of her hands and brushed a strand of her hair gently behind her ear before joining the others upstairs.

Once the four of them were sitting on the large floor cushions in the largest room of the house, Rey learned what Luke’s visit was about: he had decided to give it a try and unearth the long-hidden family secret. Rey could tell that Leia hated the mere thought of it, but that she was also looking worriedly at her son: Ben was visibly nervous.

“If you think you can handle it,” Luke said, “I don’t want to force you to hear anything you’d rather not.”

Leia nodded. “I think…” she said, looking straight at her son, “that we ought to be honest with one another.”

Ben, who was sitting by her side, laid one of his large hands on her small one. “Mom, if you want maybe you should leave. But I… I really want to know. Grandfather’s fate has been hunting me for years now.”

Leia paused, then nodded slowly. She braced herself interiorly, and Rey impulsively moved a little closer to her, so that the three of them formed a half-circle, Luke sitting opposite of them.

They talked for hours way into the night, and there was sniffing and gulping as the story of the man who once had been Anakin Skywalker unfolded before them - his birth and upbringing as a slave; his enormous talent for the Force, his strength and courage, and how in the end it had all turned to ashes and terror had taken over the galaxy, Darth Vader’s shadow falling over the Skywalker family long before his children were grown.

Luke did his best to tell the truth as openly and calmly as possible, but it was hard for him, too. The old family wound had never fully healed and was easily reopened. The Force stirred between the four of them, and they could feel something like an echo from far away - the tortured soul and body of Anakin Skywalker, inflicting pain upon others because he had nothing else to do with the miserable remainders of his life.

Leia had never seen her father unmasked, the broken, charred body hiding beneath the frightful mask. At some point in the conversation, she started to cry into a handkerchief, and her son laid an arm around her. She had never managed to really think about the man who was her father and the horror hit her with a vengeance. Remembering how he had imprisoned and tortured her on the Death Star had been too painful for her to look back upon. She had always looked to the future, trying to forget the past as much as possible. Leia felt she still could not forgive him, but something was beginning inside of her, a first grain of compassion. The other three were worried but also could tell that some sort of much-needed healing was taking place inside of her.

When Mara had hinted at Luke’s intention to carry out some family talk, Han had been glad not to be there. At one time Vader had had him frozen in carbonite, a state where he was always halfway between consciousness and unconsciousness and incapable to do as much as lift a finger, or form one coherent thought. For his dynamic personality, it had been the worst torture imaginable, and Han knew that he might have gone insane on being freed at last, had Leia not been there to support him.

Gentler than he had ever heard her, Mara said that Luke wanted to try and make the old family wound heal, by telling them about their father and grandfather as best as he could. There was a tell-tale glint in her eyes, and Han quickly realized that she had formed a strong bond with Luke.

Since Mara would not talk about it, he simply toasted to her with a grin. “Be good to him,” he said. “That’s my favorite brother-in-law.”

Since he had no other brothers-in-law, Mara understood that Han was conveying to her how much Luke meant to him, and simply nodded before taking another sip of the suspicious looking blackish liquor.

Rey could feel the Jedi’s aura while he told Anakin Skywalker’s story; at times she could see what he had seen through his eyes. She realized that he was indeed very powerful. But most of all, she sensed that he was compassionate.

Late at night, Ben carried an exhausted Rey to her room, suspecting she wouldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Rey had a lot to think about; now she could also understand where Ben’s tendency to violence came from. But at least he was not alone.

It was Rey’s idea, on the following day, to build a small family shrine in one corner of the main room of the house and to put the pictures of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala on a pretty chest, framed and with two small lights burning on their sides.

The idea turned out good; seeing them like this, they simply looked like two friendly young people - the ones their family had come from.

On the next day, Leia surprisingly went to a trip in the city with her brother, and when they came back from the city Luke’s hair and beard were trimmed, and instead of the stiff Jedi robes he wore a long, light brown jacket over a white shirt. He looked younger and more relaxed.

Mara laughed and hooked her arm into his, something she liked to do when she teased him. Leia just smiled to herself while Han shook his head like he never would have guessed to see this day.

“Your uncle looks quite content,” Rey smiled at Ben.

“I’ve never seen him like this. Female company really seems to do him good,” Ben answered, and the young woman blushed. She suspected that Ben did not only mean Luke, but also himself.

That night everybody met on the terrace after dinner, including Chewie who had his own room downstairs. It was actually a large hall and comfortably furnished, but still too small for the Wookie’s size, which was why he liked to be in the open as much as possible. The women instinctively formed a group, feeling a kind of sisterhood between them although they were so different in character and upbringing. Ben was playing Derjak with Chewie who roared in protest every time Ben made some silly mistake - it was an old habit they had bonded over ever since Ben was a little boy.

“How are things on the Dark Side?” Han asked Luke with a grin, sitting on a chair by the Jedi’s side with a glass in his hand.

Luke’s gaze wandered to Mara, who was talking to Leia. “We… practice,” he answered, and Han could hear a slight self-irony in his voice. The red-headed woman turned her head as if she had heard her voice, and they exchanged a knowing glance which Han saw.

“I wasn’t expecting this, Han,” Luke admitted quietly.

**Nights at the Jedi Temple**

Mara was almost more surprised than Luke was. That after all she had been through she should find a soft spot in her heart for the gentle-hearted Jedi was the last thing she had expected.

But she had. After a few weeks at Luke’s placid Temple, helping him training the adepts and arguing with him over old textbooks and their practical use, something had happened.

She - or Luke - wouldn’t tell anyone how he caught her furiously chopping trees with her sabre until she cursed because she had cut herself.

How he had sensed something and asked her if she wanted to talk about it, and she had curtly said no.

How a few days later she had come to his room at night, uncapable to sleep, and roused him with his hair uncombed and his eyes groggy but not willing to send her away.

How she had told him a few things about her life, and then, surprising herself, had crossed the room with a few quick strides, bent over him and kissed him almost angrily.

How she had turned around and tried to left the room right afterwards but had been held back by his hand grasping her arm, and the understanding in his eyes had hurt her almost to tears.

How two weeks later she had first shared his bed, seducing him in her aggressive way, only to be tempered down by his quiet assuredness. How she had stayed in his arms after that, falling asleep at last, snuggled up by his side like a cat with its claws withdrawn, while his lips had curled into a smile resting in her wild hair.

They both had not foreseen this and they didn’t know where it would lead. But she found it impossible to leave. Also, she liked helping him training the boys, as long as she did not have to enter the kitchen. A housewife was the last thing she would ever be.

Luke smiled quietly to himself as he saw Mara’s proud figure standing in the light of the settling sun. Maybe Ben had been right, he had needed female company. His pupils seemed calmer and more cheerful, too, as if things were more in balance at the Temple now. Mara could be very strict, but she never was unjust. She had lived a hard life, mostly made of fighting and surviving, but she had never rejected a challenge.

The Temple had been a good place, but it had never felt like home before. And he liked being kind to her. She had needed someone, and he had been there. It was a good thought, that he didn’t have to be heroic around her, just someone who listened. Mara was strong because she never was in denial about her feelings; she often argued with him but with intelligence and never holding grudges. Luke found her opinions helped him grow. And the fire in her heart warmed him inside.

The Jedi lingered on the terrace longer than the others that night, sipping on a glass. He sensed that something was about to happen.

About half an hour later Ben came out, unselfconsciously and looking around for the Derjak table which he had forgotten to clear away.

“Ben,” he heard his uncle’s voice.

Ben's head whipped around. Luke was sitting in the dark and he hadn’t seen him. But now he suspected that some instinct had pushed him to the terrace, some matter that was more important than the Derjak table he thought he had come for.

He balled his fist by his side. His uncle still irritated him. Luke meant well, he had always meant well, but for some reason that made the young man feel even crosser. Luke was the family hero, a galactic hero even; Ben had always known he would never manage to become like him, and also that Leia, though never saying so, had expected him to take Luke for an example. But Ben had always felt that he and Luke were like water and oil.

Luke set his glass on the nearby table. It was very silent between the two of them.

“Still angry with me, Ben?” the older man asked, surprisingly gentle.

Ben came a few steps closer and could see the blue eyes glimmering in the darkness.

“What do you want?”

“Talk to you without having my head ripped off,” Luke answered mildly.

Ben took a few deep breaths. It was an offer of truce, he knew that. But he didn’t like to give in easily.

After a moment, he dropped on a chair on the opposite side of the table, making the legs screech on the marble floor. Irritation was oozing off him.

“I hope you’re well,” Luke began, but Ben didn’t let him finish the sentence. He knew that his uncle meant - he hoped Ben wasn’t regretting his decision.

“I’m glad I went away,” Ben said bluntly. “If I hadn’t, I never would have met Rey. Dad and I found her by pure coincidence. And…” he swallowed. “Uncle Luke, I don’t want to be celibate all my life.”

“Neither do I, it seems,” Luke said dryly, folding his hands over his chest. “Sometimes love comes just creeping upon you. I wasn’t expecting it.”

“No need to thank me,” the young man said grouchily.

“No need to thank me for having come all the way here to talk to the three of you all night,” Luke replied.

Ben snorted. His uncle hadn’t lost his wry sense of humor.

At length he looked up and met Luke’s eyes.

“Uncle Luke, I think the Jedi Code needs to be revisited,” Ben said. “I don’t want to be a Jedi if it means what the old texts say. No attachments or close connections… No families of one’s own… And there must be so many people around the galaxy who are Force-sensitive, with no one to find and teach them. People like Rey, too… slaves, with no one to free them…”

“Mara had no one either,” Luke commented. “She was very lonely all her life. All of her power was little good to her.”

“That’s why I thought I should send her to you,” his nephew said. “I figured you would know how to handle her.”

“Ben…” The elderly man sighed. “The old Order was flawed,” he admitted, “and many, many people paid the price. My father and grandmother were slaves, too. When people have to live like that, they hardly have a reason to believe in the Jedi.”

Ben stared ahead of him for a few moments, a shadow crossing his face.

“I thought for a long time that if grandfather was alive, he would know what I was going through.”

“I guess he would,” Luke answered. “But he couldn’t have helped you. He knew all about deep and dark feelings, but he had not learned how to deal with them.” Luke paused for a moment. “When your mother sensed your power, she was terrified that you might go our father’s way. That’s why she trusted you to me. I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

Ben looked at his uncle again, only for a short moment. Then he got up and left the terrace with an abrupt, “Good night.”

Luke Skywalker sighed a little and looked up at the starry sky, praying to the Force to give him patience.

His complex, dreamy nephew had always been a complete mystery to the straightforward Jedi. Trust was still an issue between them; but Luke remembered how Obi-Wan, the man for whom his nephew had been named, had once told him that every truth is only a point of view.

The air between uncle and nephew was tense on the next morning; Rey wondered where her friend had gone off to, since she couldn’t even find him all day, not even at night on his usual place at the rooftop. It was when she meditated on her own, this time, that something hit her full force.

When Ben came back at last Rey entered the living space, quiet and earnest and with a strange, determined expression on her face.

“There is… something I have to tell you,” she said. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides.

The others, who had been sitting and taking a nightcap, looked up at her. The girl looked odd… Angry and sad at the same time. Her breath was ragged, like she was struggling interiorly.

Ben tried to touch her arm. “Come, sit down. Do you want something to drink?”

She shook him off. “No… Thank you, but I have to do this.”

Ben stepped back a little, and Rey looked around - at him, Han and Leia, Luke and Mara.

“I remember my parents. I didn’t want to remember, but I do.” She passed her hand over her face. Then she looked beyond them, out of the window. “I know why they gave me away.”

Leia put a hand over her mouth while she and the others stared at the young woman.

“Plutt used to tell me they were drunkards and needed money for their next fix. I remember that, but it wasn’t why… why they didn’t want me.” Rey briefly closed her eyes. “I remember when I was small... I knew how to make things float and... sometimes I could foresee what they were going to do. And they were scared. _Scared_ of me although I only was a little girl. They didn’t know what was the matter with me, only that I had this weird power, differently from them.” She softly hiccupped trying to swallow her tears of rage and pain. “Unkar offered them to take me. Said he needed a small child to crawl into the nooks of old ships to collect valuable stuff. And… they did it. They were so keen to get rid of me... because they thought I was some kind of… freak…” Rey’s self-control was at an end, she started to cry.

Leia quickly got up, put an arm around her and made her sit beside her. Ben brought her a handkerchief and stroked her back, sitting at her other side.

Rey sobbed for a few minutes, while the others were in shocked silence.

At last Luke took his sister’s place and held Rey’s hand.

“Nobody could tell them what was the matter with you. They were simple, uneducated people. Don’t blame them, Rey. They couldn’t help themselves.”

“There was no Jedi around.” The words came from Ben, who looked at his uncle almost aggressively. “No one told them that her talent is natural and needs not to be afraid of.”

The two men measured each other and would have started arguing had the girl sitting between them not still been weeping.

“They’re dead. I know they are,” she whispered. “Forgotten in some pauper’s grave…”

Rey blew her nose loudly; she still was getting used to using tissues. Ben slowly tucked her head under his chin.

“You’re not alone, Rey.”

“We’re your family now,” Leia said.

“Absolutely,” Han agreed.

Luke’s eyes met his nephew’s over the young woman’s head, suspecting that the last had not been said about all this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo's and comments are always welcome. :-)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, the wrap-up is here. Thanks to all of you who read until the end. See you :-)

**Sunset on Takodana**

“Ben… May I ask what you did with… that old thing?” Han felt uncomfortable when, on meeting his son on the terrace in the morning, he finally found the courage to ask him about something that had been troubling for a while.

Luke had unearthed Darth Vader’s charred mask from his belongings - he had taken it with him as a memento after he had burned his father’s body. Ben had wanted to see it and then kept it in his room for months, sometimes staring at it as if searching for answers. Han had been a great deal disturbed; he was by no means superstitious, but he couldn’t stifle the thought that even that old, dead thing could have a bad influence on his son’s mind - the reminder of unspeakable pain, sorrow, countless deaths, tortured people, a reign of terror.

Ben looked puzzled for a moment. “Oh… that.” He shrugged. “It’s still in Maz Kanata’s cellar, I guess.”

“What did you give it Maz for?”

“I didn’t want to keep it, and uncle Luke didn’t want it either. You know Maz likes to collect old stuff.” He looked up at the sky. “Sometimes I feel like he’s speaking to me, in my mind. You know, dad… I think grandfather mostly was a family man. He got married and had children although a Jedi’s not supposed to. It’s sad that he was condemned to be so lonely. I don’t want to end up like him.”

Han smiled at him, relieved. “Good to hear that, son.”

Rey was feeling better a few weeks after her breakdown in the Solo household; Luke and Mara had traveled back to the Temple and things were settling down when Ben decided to breach the subject with her.

“There is something I want you to see,” he told Rey one evening when they were sitting on the rooftop as usual.

Rey scrunched her nose. “This is not about seafood, is it?” She had given it a try at dinner a few days before and found that she hated eating anything that had come out of the sea.

Ben chuckled. “No… Actually, it has to do with a beautiful green planet. The place I want you to see is by a lake, not by the sea.”

“What is this planet’s name?” Rey asked.

“Takodana.”

“Ben Solo!”

A very small, wrinkled female with enormous glasses pushed on her bald head greeted the young people from the entrance of the building by the sea which she had inhabited for hundreds of years.

Rey had been immediately enamored with the lush, green planet and its many lakes; the construction with the high turrets was called a castle, Ben told her. He also warned her that Maz worked as a receiver and contact person for all sorts of scum who traveled throughout the galaxy, but that it was very difficult to outsmart her.

Rey was not afraid of people who might be criminals, having known so many during her difficult years on Jakku. She entered the castle calmly and quickly bonded with Maz. She had less difficulties with socializing than he had, although she had been lonely for so long: Ben had long since figured that she probably wasn’t as self-aware as he was.

The three of them settled comfortably around a table and shared some fresh fruit, making small talk until Ben informed the elderly woman about his errand.

“The mask is in good company,” Maz said. “I have put Anakin’s old light sabre right beside it, the blue one.”

Rey looked at Ben questioningly.

“I wanted to show you the only thing that is left of my grandfather,” he said. “If you want to see it of course. I left it here years ago and I haven’t seen it ever since.”

Maz looked at him intently; she had the Force, too, though she had not actually been trained to use it.

“Sometimes you can hear it rumbling through the castle,” she told Ben. “At night, in particular.”

Rey shuddered.

“Yes, it’s funny with that mask…” Maz continued. “It seems to have a life of its own. As if a part of his soul was still there. It’s been quieter lately, though.”

Ben looked at Rey and offered her his hand, questioningly. Rey looked at his face, then his hand, and in the end placed her own small hand into his.

They went downstairs into the dark cellar, holding hands and feeling nervous. Rey inhaled sharply on seeing Vader’s mask in Maz’ old wooden chest, the light sabre by its side, and she could feel that Ben was shaken, too. Though only reminders of the past, those two things had an energy of their own, a disquieting one.

As Rey curiously held out her hand to touch the sabre, it leapt into her hand like it belonged there. She ignited it, looking at its shimmering light bisecting the darkness of the room. A moment later Ben touched the charred mask, and it developed a faint, red glow. Looking at it they both heard the crackling of fire, shooting, screams and cries from a long distance, like echoes. The most terrifying sound was a sound of unbearable pain coming from a man driven to the edge of mental and physical agony; the two young people touched one another’s free hands and briefly had a short, horrible vision of a broken, disfigured body slowly being burned by a fire ignited by the lava coursing all around him. A tall, dark-clad man came and touched the man’s forehead… Moments later, they saw an operation table, the dark man supervising the medication of the other one, who was slowly, mercilessly strapped into a black armour, his face hidden behind a mask that made his breath heavy and creepy…

The two young people held one another’s hands tighter, and at that the vision vanished.

Rey exhaled shakily, turned off the light sabre and put it back while Ben took his hand off the mask. Instinctively, he held his arms out for her and she came into his embrace.

She was crying softly, and he felt close to tears, too. They would both never forget what they had seen. But it was over, mercifully; not to be forgotten, but to be left behind. Strange that they could feel compassion for the Dark Lord who had plunged the galaxy into horror for decades. They both separately swore to themselves never to leave anyone alone with his fears as long as they could do anything about it.

After a while, they closed the old chest and slowly walked upstairs, their hands still together, feeling closer to one another than before.

A while later they were lying on the grass, peacefully; Ben looked up at the sky, his arms behind his head. Rey was laying sidewise, with her head on his stomach. From time to time he stroked her hair.

Rey had got used to being touched; as a matter of fact, she found she liked it by now. At first she had been wary, but ever since the morning when Ben had come home after the brawl where they had first met Mara and she had hugged him impulsively, some wall seemed to have crumbled between them.

“Ben…” Rey said quietly after a while.

“Yes.”

“I’ve thought about it. I think I don’t want to be a Jedi.”

Ben’s hand, which had been caressing her hair, stilled. He didn’t want to say it but he was glad about Rey’s words.

“I like Luke,” Rey said. “But I don’t think being a Jedi would be right for me. I’m a simple girl. I don’t think I want to struggle to become some sort of hero. I want a family, like other people.”

Ben tried to keep his breath even.

“Uncle Luke seems to have changed his mind, too,” he said.

“But there still is the Jedi code,” Rey said. “Maybe he will want to revisit it, but that will take time.”

“It will take even longer to make the galaxy accept it,” Ben added.

“Your mother has the Force too, Ben. And Maz. But they don’t use it to do evil. I don’t think you have to become a Jedi if you have the Force, unless you want to.”

“And what do you want to do now, Rey?” he asked.

“As a matter of fact, I like a boy,” Rey grinned. “But he will be difficult to get, I guess.”

“Difficult?” Ben had a hard time stifling the jealousy rising inside him.

“Yes.” Rey was quiet for a while, letting him steam. “You know, he told me once he was too unattractive for anyone.”

Ben’s heart started to pound in his chest. He did his best not to stare at her. “You don’t seem to think he is.”

She grinned. “As soon as I saw him, I thought a guy with dreamy eyes is a good guy.”

“I see,” Ben commented, at a loss for words.

Rey quickly sat up and shot him a mischievous look.

“But I will never understand what that strange stuff is about!” she threw at him before running away laughing.

“Hey!” Ben got up and chased her good-naturedly through the woods until he caught her, breathless, under a tree, where he held her and gave her a first, chaste kiss.

**Bright Days on Chandrila**

Rey and Ben had both decided not to stay on Coruscant, but Takodana was not a good alternative. Beautiful as the planet was, the memories of their vision in Maz Kanata’s cellar were disturbing.

Now that she had first seen the natural beauty of a green planet, Rey did not want to stay on Coruscant any longer; also she had taken part in a few political reunions and Senate meetings and felt let down by the slowness and stubbornness of most of the people who were responsible for peace in the galaxy.

“We are trying to reshape the Republic, Rey,” Leia spoke with her one night. “No one thought it would be easy.”

“Most people on Coruscant don’t care for the Republic, Leia,” Rey said bluntly. “I’ve seen them. They spend their time and energies and resources for futile things. They’re not interested in working together. Their main interest is keeping their status and their privileges. I don’t think I want to be a politician. I’m sure there is something else where I can be useful.”

Leia reminded Ben that their old house on Chandrila was still theirs; Ben had been happy in Chandrila and the thought to return there with a young woman delighted him.

Han went on his next missions alone, only with Chewie; both didn’t want to admit that they missed Ben and would have liked Rey along as well.

If Rey had loved Takodana, she was enthusiastic about Chandrila; it looked and felt like a paradise to her. For months, she and Ben were busy setting up house, cleaning everything up and throwing away useless furniture and items. There was a small city nearby that they loved to explore; Rey scavenged for valuable stuff in the most unlikely places and offered an elderly couple to help them with their repair shop.

One day, their peaceful life was turned upside down when Ben found out by coincidence that one of the servant’s eight-year-old son was Force-sensitive; he had pulled a broom to his hand instinctively, without touching it. Ben talked to the boy and his mother and offered to show him a few things. Pretty soon, other children followed, also adolescents, and Rey kept pestering him with questions, too, until he found himself swamped.

At which point Ben Solo decided something he’d never thought he would do: he contacted Luke on his own, saying that he needed help.

Han and Leia came for a visit to Chandrila first, to see how things were getting along; but they had barely been there for a few days when Han groaned exaggeratedly and said that what with their teasing and laughing and good-natured banter, the “children” were getting on his nerves and he already suspected where this would end. He quickly thought of some business he had to settle at the other side of the galaxy, and began packing his bags again.

“Is there still room for me on the Falcon?” Leia asked.

“Always for you, Princess,” her husband answered. “And I promise you won’t have to get out of the ship and push.”

They said their goodbyes on the next day, the two women whispering in conjuring, confiding tones and giggling a little, then hugging and smiling. Father and son shared an awkward hug.

“Be good, dad,” Ben winked.

“Hey!” Han pushed him in the ribs.

Leia turned to him, and before anyone knew Han had lifted her on his arms like a bride, making her yelp in surprise.

“What are you doing?!” she exclaimed.

“Oh, that’s just a little trick I learned from my son,” Han winked. Chewie bellowed from the entrance, urging them to come in at last.

As the Falcon took off, Rey started to reprimand him.

“How can you tell your own father to be good?!”

“I had a look at the navigating system,” Ben answered. “They’re directed nowhere near a smuggler base.” He smiled at her. “They’re directed to Naboo… A beautiful planet where people often travel for their honeymoons. It was my grandmother’s birthplace.”

Rey put a hand over her mouth. “Do you mean he… they…”

“I do mean that,” he grinned. “Well, I’m happy for them.”

Luke and Mara reached Chandrila a few days later. Mara loved the pretty place they lived at and she and Rey soon had their heads together, Rey showing the older woman the house and the two exchanging confidences and at times giggling like little girls when they realized that both their partners, kind-hearted as they were, had the same ways of annoying their women from time to time.

Meanwhile, Luke and Ben took a long walk by the lakeside, the Jedi master at times shooing away the birds that flocked around the house and fluttered over their heads.

“What _are_ these beasts, anyway?”

“Dad said they’re called Porgs. We found them on Ahch-To, and when we went away, a few had started to nest on the Falcon. It was too late when we noticed it. Chewie got them out and placed their nests here. Said they were cluttering everything up.”

Luke stopped. “Ahch-To? The island of the first Jedi Temple?”

“We had lost our way… I figured it was a Jedi Temple on seeing it from afar, so we went to have a look at it.”

The Jedi groaned. “One of the most sacred sites in the whole galaxy, and you went there for tourism.”

“No, it was by accident,” Ben laughed despite himself. Then he turned serious again. “Uncle Luke, why is no one there? There were small houses all around, fit to be lived in.”

“You are aware that the old Jedi were almost all extinct when the Republic fell.”

“That Temple looked much older. Like no one had been there in centuries. - Do you think there are other Temples like that, around the galaxy?”

“Possibly. During the Old Republic, the Jedi concentrated their powers very much on Coruscant.”

“You mean there could be Temples for the Jedi to live and teach adepts in, only they’ve been empty for a long time?” Ben frowned.

“There are places where the Force is strong all over the galaxy. Even on Jakku, I’ve heard, although that’s pretty much nowhere.”

Ben’s pupils were enthusiastic when they heard that the legendary Jedi had come to their planet; they surrounded him, wanted to pull at his beard, admired his green light sabre although he admonished them not to touch it, and flooded him with questions. They were an undisciplined bunch which would have driven any Jedi to despair; but for the next weeks uncle and nephew found no time to start quarrelling with one another because they had to organize classes, pour over books and discuss different teachings methods.

The children could listen to Luke for hours; at times he had to ask the gold protocol droid to take over because his voice gave out. Rey learned quickly, the children trusted her and she decided that she liked to assist Ben in looking after them. Meanwhile Ben found that he could be patient when necessary; and the younger children liked him because he carried them on his back and made them laugh. Seen like this, he thought, it wasn’t so bad to have a love for cuddling and slightly funny looks after all.

About a month later, Luke decided that it was time to return to the Jedi Temple. Ben was impatient because he feared that his uncle would try to lecture him again when they spoke to one another for the last time, but Luke was surprisingly mild.

“I don’t want to teach the children to be afraid of the Dark Side, uncle Luke. It’s natural.” Ben said. He hesitated. “I don’t want to become a Jedi in the old fashion. Mother has the Force too, but she never hurt anybody. And Rey… She got tempted a few times, but she quickly got the hang of it. She just needed to feel safe.”

Luke was silent for a while. “Ben, I have given it a lot of thought since you left the Temple. I believed for a long time that the Dark Side had consumed my father. He was very strong both sides, but then he thought he could use both for his own aims, and got crushed between them.” Luke saw his nephew frowning. “I am aware that my old masters made some grave mistakes. When their pupil went down the wrong path, they thought it was their duty to destroy him and that he could not be saved. I realize now that… they probably were too detached to understand him.”

“They were not like us,” Ben said. “We Skywalkers are a bunch of hotheads. We just need balance. We don’t do well when we’re lonely.”

“I know.” Luke closed his eyes for a moment. “I missed Leia very much, and Han. We’d been through so much together, I hated being apart from them. I thought I had to tough it out and to be there only for my pupils.”

“I have already… asked the other students whether they wanted to be Jedi at all,” Luke said grudgingly. “Four said they want to get back home once they’ve finished with their education. The others I will send off on missions. The galaxy needs the Jedi everywhere, so that people won’t get scared the way Rey’s parents were.”

“Always two Jedi, I suggest,” Ben smiled.

“Of course,” Luke winked at him. “Always two there are.”

“Argh!” Ben quickly dodged a branch that had almost fallen on his head. Then they saw that it had been cut clear with a light sabre.

Mara was a few steps ahead of them, her red sabre still ignited and her eyebrows lifted.

“Are the two of you finished talking? I’m getting restless. I could use a good sparring partner.”

With a grin that was only slightly smug, Luke slipped into the role of the defenceless old guy he sometimes liked to pull off. “I need a cup of tea,” he said with overstated drama. The other two grinned.

Later, he watched Mara and Ben sparring by the lake while he sipped on a hot beverage sitting on the terrace border. They were equally strong; from the distance the Jedi could clearly see both sides of the Force alive in each of them. But he also felt that this time, they were both much in balance.

**Morning on Chandrila**

It was Mara who found out that Rey had felt sick and retching almost every morning days since, and it did not take her long to speak to Rey and find out what was happening to her. At her words, the young woman stormed off, her eyes suddenly wide with panic.

Ben was so dense he still didn’t quite understand what the redhead was trying to tell him. Mara grinned smugly.

After having made a somewhat goofy face for a moment, Ben shot up from his chair and stormed from the terrace, nearly overthrowing the breakfast table with all the china and cutlery. Luke held the table in place with a quick Force trick, shaking his head.

Mara just laughed and linked her arm into his as they walked down the terrace. She had donned a long purple robe with a narrow skirt, simple but becoming; now that she was no longer alone, at times she found she liked to dress up a little and feel more female.

“Leia will want a wedding ceremony, that’s for sure. - Do I have to get you pregnant, too, before you will marry me?” Luke smiled.

She laughed. “You would catch cold at that! Even the Force could not get me pregnant now. But I will do my best to be a nice aunt.”

“Oh no.” Luke put his head into his good hand. “I just realized someone will have to tell Han he’s going to be a grandfather.”

On the other side of the house, Rey was in Ben’s arms with tears streaming all over her face.

“Now you will become part of this family, like it or not,” Ben smiled. “Do you dislike the idea so much?”

She shook her head, choking on her sobs. “I wonder why your family would take up a nobody from a desert planet.”

Ben hugged her closer and smiled into her hair. “Grandfather would have been so proud.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudo's and comments are always welcome. They can be very motivating. ;-)


End file.
